Muslim World InitiativeCurrent ProjectsThe following are the Muslim World Initiative's current projects.
Engaging Muslim Communities in EuropeFollowing the terrorist bombings of commuter trains in London and Madrid, Europe emerged as a major cultural and political battleground in the war on terrorism. The involvement of European Muslim citizens in these attacks shattered the illusion that terrorism is an external problem. This development enhances the capacity of terrorist networks to act globally. Yet security measures alone are unlikely to safeguard against the radicalization of Muslim youth in Europe. The Muslim World Initiative (MWI) began to explore the possibility of engaging European Muslim communities and their youth as an effective strategy to fighting extremism. As part of this effort, the MWI recently co-sponsored a series of conferences and workshops in Europe. Through these workshops, the MWI hopes to identify community-based figures and institutions within Europe's Muslim communities and establish channels of communication, dialogue, and cooperation between the Muslim community and European governments and civil society.
 Political Oppositions in the Arab World ProjectThe ability of regimes to undermine the capacity of opposition movements and parties to push for greater political participation is a major factor in sustaining autocracy in the Arab world. In the region's liberalized autocracies, state-managed liberalization has thus far prevailed in part due to the institutional, economic, personal, and ideological divisions in oppositions that are readily exploited by regimes. The Political Oppositions in the Arab World project aims to assess the causes of opposition weakness and fragmentation in the Arab world, and on that basis, provide concrete insights into the political, legal, and institutional reforms that might be undertaken to promote more effective, legitimate, and moderate opposition movements. Initiated in 2005 as part of the Muslim World Initiative, this project is directed by Dan Brumberg. The Peace Index ProjectIdentifying the sources, agents, and dynamics of conflicts before they degenerate into full-fledged violent wars or civil wars remains a challenge. The Peace Index project is intended as a first-of-its-kind effort to gauge the extent to which a country displays a propensity and capacity for the peaceful resolution of domestic and international disputes. This project is being developed within the context of the Muslim World Initiative, but is designed as a generic political index, applicable to any country, in any region of the world. Concepts such as political will, intent, commitment, and capacity are hard to quantify and can draw only partially on available data sets, but it is precisely the ambitious nature of this project and its relevance to a broad variety of audiences, as well as the absence of such an index to date, that makes it particularly timely and relevant to U.S. strategic interests. In its pilot phase, the Peace Index framework will be applied to five countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan. The lead project researcher is Dr. Guilain Deneoux, Professor of Government at Colby College. Political Authority in Contemporary Muslim SocietiesThe Muslim World Initiative launched a workshop on how the nature of political authority might retard or advance democratic progress in select Muslim societies. The general purpose of the project is to provide a new perspective on the problem of democratization in the Muslim world by focusing on the status, functions, mechanisms, and ideological foundations of political authority. Advisory Committee on U.S.-Muslim World RelationsAs part of USIP's effort to improve U.S.-Muslim relations, the Muslim World Initiative formed an Advisory Committee to explore the potential contributions of Muslim Americans. Negative perceptions between the U.S. and the Muslim world have drastically increased in the aftermath of 9/11, the war in Iraq, and the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. During the last three years, successive surveys and polls have found deep and wide expressions of fear and hatred toward the United States. Public remarks by senior officials on both sides have given this troubling trend an aura of legitimacy. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to inform policymakers, the media, and think tanks of ways to promote understanding and peaceful coexistence. It suggests actions to reverse the trend of increasing negative perception through a series of private and public meetings with senior officials, the media, and the general public in the United States and in the Muslim world. The meetings will take place during 2005-2006 and will include a series of public lectures and encounters in North Africa, the Middle East, and South/East Asia. The potential contribution of Muslim Americans in changing attitudes cannot be overstated. Muslim Americans are familiar with Islam, Muslim societies, and American politics. They can constitute a cultural and political bridge. Muslim Americans are often critical of both U.S. policies as well as states and societies in the region. They can therefore provide serious and independent insights on how to improve relations. Finally, Muslim Americans, and Muslims residing in the West in general, are likely to play a major role in efforts to reform and renew Islam.
Challenges to Genuine Democratization in the Arab WorldA new project has been established entitled "Challenges to Genuine Democratization in the Arab World." Under the direction of Daniel Brumberg, Special Adviser to USIP, this project explores the risks, costs, and benefits of Arab states moving beyond state control to genuine democratization. The project examines key Arab states that have begun to experiment with political liberalization through political systems, media independence, and intellectual debate, and examines the move from full autocracy to some limited experimentation with releasing state control over all aspects of society. Interestingly, these states make up the majority of the Arab world and include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Yemen--all of which are at differing stages of political liberalization. In addition, the project will explore the fascinating cases of Indonesia and Turkey, which bring the added Islamic dimensions to the question of democratization. The overall goals of the project are to bring diverging views and approaches together to look at capacity building in the Arab world, to examine what it will take for genuine democratization to take root, and to explore the implications of the latter question for American democracy promotion in the Arab world. The project launched in July 2005 with a major conference on "The Transition from Liberalized Autocracy: New Options for Promoting Democracy in the Arab World."
Pivotal States ProjectThe Muslim World Initiative will soon launch a new project that will focus on key or "pivotal" states in the Muslim world--Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. By virtue of their influence in regional political, economic, and cultural networks, these states can play a critical role not only in the resolution of conflicts in their immediate vicinity, but also in moderating future relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. This project is designed to build upon USIP's other ongoing regional and conceptual projects--including past sponsored working groups on Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, as well as working groups whose deliberations touch on related issues such as those on political violence, coercive diplomacy, and cross-cultural negotiation. Pathways to Peace ProjectAs part of USIP's work related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Muslim World Initiative launched an ongoing project to examine in a balanced way the elements that must go into a successful final status negotiating process. Rather than attempting to define the final status, the project utilizes a series of workshops to provide "off-the-record" opportunities to explore several "baskets" of issues that must be part of the final status negotiation. These baskets will include an examination of issues such as security (including implementation and monitoring), economics (e.g. tax and monetary policy, goods and services, and labor relations), reform/governance for the Palestinian Authority, political horizons (Israeli settlements), public support and networks (re-establishing contact and trust), and regional and international support (opportunities for Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the EU, and the U.S. to assist the process). The mechanism for this project has two parts: first, a small working group to develop the short-term, intermediate, and long-term perspectives of each of these baskets for the peace process. The project seeks Israelis and Palestinians to present ideas and feedback during special working group sessions and develop both lessons learned from previous experiences and options for the future. Second, the project convenes a smaller policy council to consider policy options and appropriate roles for the United States based on the results of the working group's efforts. The final product included several papers that integrated the results of the workshops. It is the USIP's hope that the products from this project would have valuable insights for policymakers in the United States and beyond, as well as valuable lessons that could be distilled and disseminated to the broader public.
Public Education and Engagement ProjectsBuilding upon planned activities by the USIP's Rule of Law, Education, and Professional Training programs as well as other USIP programs such as Religion and Peacemaking, the Muslim World Initiative seeks to actively engage interested individuals and organizations in its work. In particular, USIP seeks to host a series of policy dialogues with Muslim institutes and think tanks. Using the model of USIP's previous policy dialogues with various Chinese think tanks and academic institutes, USIP seeks to engage similar organizations and set up a similar process for dialogue with organizations throughout the Muslim world. The initiative also believes that public education is an important component of its work. In addition to sponsoring public events and preparing publications, its staff has participated in numerous special meetings and policy forums. |
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